Much of what we know about the universe has come from astrometry, the precise measurement of star positions. Astrometry has been an important scientific tool for more than two millenia. The name of the European Space Agency's High Precision Parallax Collecting Satellite—Hipparcos for short—honors the great prechristian astrometer Hipparchus of Nicea. Tycho Brahe, the last great naked‐eye astrometer, died just nine years before Galileo first turned his telescope to the heavens.

Topics
Astrometry, Space instruments, Telescopes, Physicists
1.
For a historical review of developments between 1500 and 1850, see A. Chapman, Dividing the Circle, Ellis Harwood (1990).
2.
European Space Agency. The Hipparcos and Tycho Catalogues, ESA publication SP‐1200, in 17 volumes (1997). See also http://astro.estec.esa.nl/Hipparcos for details, including a full bibliography.
3.
F.
van Leeuwen
,
Space Science Reviews
81
,
201
(
1997
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
4.
T. Bedding, H. Kjeldsen, J. Christensen‐Dalsgaard, Proc. 10th Cambridge Workshop on Cool Stars, R. Donahue, J. Bookbinder, eds. (1997).
5.
H. Jahreiss, R. Wielen, in Proc. Venice '97 Hipparcos Symposium B. Battrick ed., ESA publication SP‐402 (1997), p. 675.
6.
M.
Crézé
,
E.
Chereul
,
O.
Bienaymé
,
C.
Pichon
,
Astron. Astrophys.
329
,
920
(
1997
).
Google Scholar
 
7.
M.
Perryman
,
A.
Brown
,
Y.
Lebreton
 et al.,
Astron. Astrophys.
331
,
81
(
1998
).
Google Scholar
 
8.
J. Mermilliod, C. Turon, N. Robichon, F. Arenou, Y. Lebreton, in Proc. Venice '97 Hipparcos Symposium, B. Battrick ed, ESA publication SP‐402 (1997), p. 643.
9.
M. W.
Feast
,
R. M.
Catchpole
,
Mon. Not. R. Astron. Soc.
286
,
L1
(
1997
).
Google Scholar
Crossref
Search ADS
 
10.
M. W. Feast, P. Whitelock, in Proc. Venice '97 Hipparcos Symposium, B. Battrick ed., ESA publication SP‐402, (1997), p. 625.
This content is only available via PDF.
© 1998 American Institute of Physics.
1998
American Institute of Physics
You do not currently have access to this content.